A change of course...

It has been a long time since I posted. The past few months have been insane! I quite my job in Temple in July, Spent some time in El Paso relaxing and shooting a wedding, went back to Temple gathered up the apartment into boxes and move to Missouri to start grad school. Missouri is a pretty nice place, Lindsey being in Kansas City for school and me here in Columbia is given me the chance to explore two cities. Which has really turned into where to get the best beer/food hunt.

Coming back to school has been an interesting ride so far. Already diving into research and photo projects. I am one of the Assistant Directors of Photography at the Columbia Missourian, so my work load is pretty heavy. Most of my free time I spend hanging out with the dog. I always told myself I wouldn't go back to school, but here I am diving into this program.

May Outtakes...

Two shots I liked from the past month. 

Silhouettes...

Spent most of my day in Salado dashing between assignments and hanging out in the Salado Visitors Center sending photos back to the paper. Last assignment was at a Salado Eagles Baseball practice. After I shot my assignment I had a bit of time so I hung out shooting silhouettes at the batting cages. I think this meets my silhouette quota for the month.

Waiting in the Wings

Last Friday I covered a talent show in Belton, a.k.a. "Belton's Got Talent". It was kind of a flash back to high school or college seeing how these kids were before taking the stage. Now, I never went on stage, but I remember being nervous as hell when I got my first real photo assignment via the sports department at the weekly newspaper in Las Cruces, The Bulletin. I was so scared I would screw it up, but the old sports editor there, John Keith, kept calling me for the next three years to shoot his assignments, so I couldn't have done that badly with the first one. Flash forward to me now: I'm shooting at least three assignments a day, plus roaming Central Texas for wild art, and I still get nervous once in a while. In the end, I've learned those nerves help me stay focused.

Slow week...

Last week was a pretty slow news week. Ended up at the State of Fort Hood Address at the Hilton, then made some story inquiries that fell through and started praying for some pink elephants to fall from the sky and make my week interesting. Kind of got my wish when a gust of wind tossed a mobile home from a trailer blocking traffic on I-35 for a few hours.

 I wasn't really happy with the shots from the wreck. I couldn't find an angle I really liked. Sometimes that's the way it goes. Ah well lets see what this week brings.

From the Archive...

Spent most of my morning trying to re-organize my archive, but I was sidetracked by looking at old images. The shot above I took at a football game in September 2011.  Now to get away from my archive and my machine I'm taking my dog and a holga for a walk.

Moment of Silence...

I covered the Bell County Rodeo this week. While I have covered rodeos all over the place, the first day of this rodeo was something new for me. Normally, you just hear the national anthem followed by a Christian prayer. But this time, the announcer spoke for all the faiths practiced in the U.S., mentioning that he had great respect for them. Everyone then bowed their heads in prayer. I don't know if this

is happening at other rodeos, but I was was pleasantly surprised to witness it in Central Texas.

My three-day weekend...

Spent my weekend with these two lovely ladies. Ok, so I spend most of my weekends with them, but this weekend was different since I had three days to hang out (not the normal Sunday/Monday weekend I get every week). We spent the weekend touring around the area, first at the Walker Honey Farm and Winery then Sunday headed out to Mother Neff State Park. I could definitely get used to three-day weekends, but tomorrow it's back to the grind stone. I feel pretty refreshed after all the wandering.

January 2013 extras...

 January felt like one hell of a long month. All these photos I snapped while either looking for stand alone or when I got to an assignment really early. I really need to keep up the blog entries, if not for the sake of blogging and shooting at least for my folks who are constantly asking what I've been working on and asking why I haven't blogged in a long time. Alright well I hope you enjoy the snaps.(Above) As the sun sets over Temple a large storm system moved into the area.

 Audrey Hubbard the Nursing Director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the McLane Children's Hospital plays a few hymns on the piano in the Hospital's chapel before Bonnie Layton and Wayne Woolsey get married.

Rain that collected on my passenger side window early in January as I wandered Temple looking for weather art.

 Cattle wait in pens behind the equine arena at the Bell County Expo Center, before being brought inside to test the skills of Cutting Horses and their riders.

On Holiday...

It has been a long time between posts on the ole blog. I figured I start back with some snaps I shot while on Christmas vacation in Memphis, TN with the Girlfriend. Graceland was an experience. I have never been a big Elvis fan, but I still had a lot of fun wandering around the mansion and adjacent grounds. All of this photos were shot with the Hipstimatic App on my phone.